Wharfedale Center Channel Speaker EVO4 CS White Oak

Wharfedale’s EVO4 has grown out of the extensive research and development that produced the ELYSIAN flagship loudspeakers and borrows much of the technology involved in ELYSIAN.

The primary focus is on the AMT development resulting in a radically different way of reproducing high frequency detail efficiently and accurately. Similar cabinet technology to ELYSIAN provides a stable and solid foundation for the drive units with radiused edges to help integrate the driver output with the room acoustics. In addition the unique SLPP bass reflex system, as developed for ELYSIAN, is now incorporated in EVO4.

The Air Motion Transformer (AMT) tweeter utilised in the EVO4 range is a radically different way of moving air than a conventional dome tweeter. A large, pleated lightweight diaphragm is driven across its surface by rows of strategically placed magnets. Not only is this an efficient way of moving air, but it is also very accurate as the diaphragm is under close control of the motor system at all times. The result is a wide bandwidth transducer that achieves low distortion and delivers exceptional musical detail without being “bright,” harsh, and fatiguing.

To match the EVO4 AMT, Wharfedale has developed a fast, responsive, and highly efficient dome midrange. The fabric dome, damped with a plasticizer coating, is vented into a large and specially shaped rear chamber to scatter and absorb back energy that would ordinarily reflect through the dome front surface, out of phase and distorted. By absorbing and dispersing the rear energy, this driver delivers vastly improved detail, lower distortion, and colouration.

The large, damped rear chamber acts much like a woofer enclosure, permitting extended low-frequency performance. This wide bandwidth allowed Wharfedale designers to lower the midrange-to-woofer crossover point so that the midrange driver handles more of the lower midrange for broader dispersion and greater clarity.

Thanks to its high flux magnet, the EVO4 midrange dome also has high efficiency, ideally matched to that of the AMT, enabling it to respond easily and quickly to the music's dynamics. The wide dispersion of this dome and AMT combination ensures that you'll hear all the musical detail no matter where you sit.

The dome midrange and the AMT tweeter contribute to the incredibly open, spacious, and deep soundstage of the EVO4s, usually not found in dynamic "box" speakers in this price category.

EVO4 marries the low distortion motor system developed for the ELYSIAN bass units to a Kevlar cone. Woven Kevlar (the material of bullet-proof vests) is a superior material for woofer cones. It is both stiff, ensuring ideal piston motion up to frequencies above its crossover point well-damped. The cone is fitted with a low loss rubber surround that absorbs resonance modes that may build up in the cone. EVO4’s woofers blend perfectly with the dome midrange to produce a desirable lower-midrange response. Bass voices and lower register instruments have the weight, warmth, and articulation of a live performance, without the muddiness and loss of clarity of lesser designs. Simultaneously, EVO4’s bass is deep, impactful, and powerful yet tuneful, musical, and precise.

Like ELYSIAN, EVO4 models use the most advanced version of the unique Wharfedale Slot Loaded Profiled Port (SLPP) system. As with all other bass port designs, the woofer's rear radiation is not wasted but vented into the room. But that is where the similarities end.

The bass energy in the enclosure is under high pressure. In conventional port designs, when the bass waves abruptly exit into the low-pressure room, air turbulence occurs. This turbulence wastes bass and often causes annoying "chuffing" or popping sounds, sometimes referred to as port noise.

In the SLPP system, both ends of the port tube are flared with a semi-parabolic flange to linearise airflow through the tube. The low-frequency energy is then vented to a slot at the speaker's base, specially profiled to equalize the high internal pressure to the low pressure in the room. The result is an entirely natural recreation of bass instruments' fundamental notes presented with authority and articulation, without port-induced distortion and noise.

The best drivers and crossovers in the world would be naught in a poorly made, highly resonant enclosure. EVO4 cabinet walls employ a multi-layered sandwich design with soft, high loss chipboard sandwiched between stiff MDF layers. The dissimilar resonance characteristic of each material serves to cancel the other’s resonance for vibration and colouration-free performance. All of the drivers’ acoustic energy launches directly into the room instead of vibrating the enclosure. 

Inside the cabinet, Intelligent Spot Bracing connects opposite walls with a wood brace to further reduce panel flexing and vibration. These braces are precisely modelled by computer simulation to improve upon the commonplace ‘figure of eight’ brace, which may transfer resonance from one wall to another.

EVO4 cabinet edges are contoured to minimise colouration-inducing diffraction. Book-matched real wood veneer finishes all visible sides of the EVO cabinet. Book matching creates symmetry and yields maximum continuity of grain. This type of pattern is usually most pleasing to the eye.  

If assembling a superior performance home cinema system at a sensible price is your goal, the EVO4 range is an ideal choice. All models use the same tweeter, driver cone design, and crossover topology for matched tonal balance and seamless surround imaging.